Paul Bass Photo
“Trump says more war! We say no war!”
That chant filled the air on the southeastern corner of the New Haven Green Sunday afternoon as hundreds rallied to criticize President Donald Trump’s decision to assassinate top Iranian General Qassim Suleimani through a drone strike in Baghdad.
The local chapter of the ANSWER Coalition organized the rally, one of many around the country this weekend (over 80 on Saturday alone) and around the world calling for peace as the fears of war mount in the wake of the assassination.
Local activist Norm Clement (at right in photo) called the assassination “an act of war and a war crime.” He said it follows in a line of four centuries of land theft and occupation and death forged by the U.S. “This country is the biggest thief ever in the history of mankind,” Clement told the crowd. “They steal everything.”
“Nobody wants war. Nobody wants to be slaughtered,” Fahd Syed (at right in photo) of the The Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) of Connecticut said in another speech at the rally.
“We have to get rid of the Nazi in the the next election He’s starting this war so he can stay in his seat,” Syed concluded, referring to President Trump.
The crowd included equal representation from veteran activists who have attended New Haven peace rallies since the mid-20th century …
… to a new generation of protesters.